90 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Evaluation of Color, Hardness, and Tannin Content in Soft Cheese, Suspesi Using Biduri Leaf Juice Level Sulmiyati Sulmiyati, Gemini Ermiani M. Malelak a Faculty of Animal Science, Marine and Fisheries Universitas Nusa Cendana, Kupang85001, Indonesia *Corresponding author: E-mail: sulmiyati@staf.undana.ac.id ARTICLE INFO Article history: Submission: July 27, 2022 Accepted: November 28, 2022 Published: December 7, 2022 ABSTRACT Suspesi is a soft cheese with the addition of biduri leaf juice and functions as a coagulant. There have been no researches examining the color value, hardness, and content of tannins in soft cheese suspesi. The research purpose was to analyze and evaluate difference the hardness, color value of(L*, a*, and b*) and tannin content of soft cheese suspesi with the addition of biduri leaf juice level 3% and 5%. This research used a completely randomized design with two treatments with six replications. A1= Biduri leaf juice level 3% (v/v), A2= Biduri leaf juice level 5% (v/v). Data on hardness, color value, and tannin content were analyzed by Independent T-Test. The results showed that the use of biduri leaf juice level were significantly different (P<0.05) on the hardness, color value of L*, and tannin content of the soft cheese suspesi. The color value of a* and b* did not show a significant difference (P>0.05) in the soft cheese suspesi. The addition of different levels of biduri leaf juice gave differences in hardness, color value of (L*, a*, b*), and tannin content different of the soft cheese suspesi. The characteristics of the soft cheese suspesi showed an increase in hardness, color value of(L*, a* and b*) and tannin content as with increasing addition of biduri leaf juice. Keywords: biduri leaf juice, color, hardness, soft cheese suspesi, tannins INTRODUCTION Suspesi is a dairy product similar to soft cheese, and is obtained from the coagulation of milk protein with the use of biduri leaf juice. According to [1] Suspesi is a local dairy product from the Soepeople,Timur Tengah Selatan District, East Nusa Tenggara. The product is made from cow milks with the addition of biduri leaf juice and goes through a heating process. Biduri leaf juice contains alkaloids, tannins, saponin, flavonoids, and glycosides [2] and where tannins as protein coagulation agents [3]. Currently, no research has been found on soft cheeses using coagulant from the biduri leaf plant (Calotropis gigantea) which analyzes the hardness, color, and tannin content of the Hasanuddin J. Anim. Sci.Vol. 4, No. 2: 90-96 pISSN 2621-9182 eISSN 2621-9190 DOI:10.20956/hajas.v4i2.21903